Shrub · Rosaceae
Loganberry
Rubus × loganobaccus
Set against full sun, rich soil, and a sturdy trellis, its arching canes hang heavy with deep red, tart-sweet fruit all summer.
Full sun
Every 5–7 days
USDA 5–9
5–7 ft · 1.5–2 m
Overview
Born as a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry, this long-standing hybrid has been grown for generations for one thing above all: its large, deep red berries. It belongs to the rose family among the other brambles, and each fruit behaves the way a blackberry's does, coming away whole and keeping its core instead of pulling off hollow. The taste settles between its two parents, sharper and brighter than a raspberry yet deeper and richer than a blackberry.
In habit it is a trailing perennial, sending out long, thin, fast-growing canes that arch and flop across the ground rather than holding themselves up, so they grope for a fence or trellis to lean on. The crown at the base lives on for years, but the individual canes run a two-year clock: a cane grows through one season, bears fruit the next, and is finished after that. Read that rhythm and the pruning falls into place.
This one is built for the open garden, hardy across USDA zones 5 to 9 and wanting elbow room for its rambling canes. It asks little, yet it flinches at hard cold and will weave itself into a dense thicket if the cane tips are left to root wherever they land. Set it in a sheltered, sunny corner and keep those tips in hand, and it more than earns its place.
Care
The short version: stand it in full sun with rich, free-draining soil and a steady 1 to 2 inches of water a week. Tie the long canes up a trellis, feed as spring begins, and clear away each cane the season after it has fruited.
Light
Full sun is where these brambles crop hardest and where the berries ripen sweetest, so full sun is what you want. They will put up with a little partial shade, but the shadier the ground, the fewer and smaller the berries left hanging from the canes.
Water
Pour on 1 to 2 inches of water a week, and give more once the flowers are out and the berries are swelling and coloring. The soil should stay moist to the touch but never sodden, since these canes resent standing in waterlogged ground.
Soil
Set it into rich, well-drained loam loaded with organic matter. A faintly acid pH somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 suits it, and sharp drainage is what keeps the roots sound.
Temperature
This bramble copes with a broad span of heat and cold, roughly 5°F to 86°F (-15°C to 30°C), the range that places it in USDA zones 5 to 9. Hard cold is its weak point, though, so the canes want shelter or a cover wherever winters bite deep.
Humidity
Everyday outdoor humidity anywhere in the 40% to 70% band suits it well. Moving air counts for more, because stagnant, moist air packed in among crowded canes is exactly the setting gray mold and purple blotch look for.
Feeding
Feed as early spring stirs the new growth, reaching for a nitrogen-rich balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 and finishing with a layer of compost. That single seasonal feeding is plenty to push out a vigorous crop of new canes.
Pruning
Pruning tracks the cane cycle. Once the old floricanes have given their fruit, take them right to the ground, then lead the young primocanes up the trellis, and over late winter neaten and tie the whole tangle in.
Repotting
This plant wants open ground and rarely takes to a pot. Should you keep one in a container, freshen the mix or step it up a size every 1 to 2 years in late winter, and keep an eye out for roots winding round the pot or water pouring straight through.
Size & spacing
A plant stands 5 to 6.5 feet (150 to 200 cm) high and throws its canes a rambling 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 m) across the trellis. Those long, trailing canes need real room to stretch out.
When to plant
This bramble keeps to the outdoor seasons rather than any windowsill schedule. Put young plants in the ground as early spring arrives and hard frost is behind you, or in late fall where the winters stay gentle. Flowers open in late spring, and the deep red berries come ripe from late June through August.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Early spring after the danger of hard frost has passed, or late fall in mild-winter regions
- Harvest: Blooms late spring; harvest late June through August
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 5–9
Temperature: down to -29°C
Troubleshooting
Nearly all of this plant's troubles surface on two places, the canes and the reddening fruit, and a run of damp weather is usually the trigger. The earliest specks, blotches, and soft patches are the ones worth catching, before anything travels down the row. Find your symptom below, then move while there is still time to help.
Purple to brown patches creeping over the cane skin
What you are seeing is purple blotch, a fungus that colonizes the canes and gallops along fastest in wet spells and a packed planting. It opens as small purplish marks at the nodes, then those marks bloat and merge into broad dark patches. Prune away the affected canes, open up the survivors so air can pass between them, and only turn to a labeled fungicide if the disease truly digs in.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy infected canes
- Thin canes to open the canopy
- Apply a labeled fungicide if infection is severe
Ripening berries going soft under gray fuzz
The culprit is gray mold, the work of botrytis, striking in muggy, humid weather just as the berries color up. A fruit first softens, then slumps beneath a coat of gray fuzz. Strip off and throw out every infected berry, harvest the ripe ones often so none linger, and thin the canopy so the fruit dries fast after rain.
Fix:
- Remove and discard infected fruit
- Harvest ripe berries promptly and frequently
- Improve airflow around the canopy
Brown canes that refuse to bud out come spring
Because trailing brambles such as the loganberry carry little cold-hardiness, a severe winter can hand you dead canes even as the crown at the base survives and pushes again. The tell is wood gone brown and brittle, snapping rather than flexing between your fingers. Trim those spent canes down to living tissue or right to the soil, and in colder gardens heap mulch over the crown and drop or wrap the canes before the freeze arrives.
Fix:
- Prune dead canes back to live tissue or the ground
- Protect canes over winter in cold sites
Toxicity
Reassuring news for a house with pets and children: nothing on the loganberry is poisonous. The deep red berries are good to eat, and swallowing any other part of the plant does no damage either. The only real danger is physical, the sharp prickles studding the canes of standard forms, so pull on gloves before pruning and pick a thornless cultivar if scratches worry you.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Nothing here threatens a cat. Chewing on a leaf will do it no harm at all, though a thorned cane's prickles could nick a curious nose poking too close.
Dogs None
There are no toxins in play, so a dog is welcome to a few ripe, deep red berries. Bolting a whole mouthful of leaves might stir a brief bout of stomach upset, and no worse than that.
Horses Safe
A horse may crop the growth around the canes with no ill effect. Watch only for the thorns, whose sharp prickles can rake a soft muzzle.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits are free to nibble the leaves and berries as they like. With nothing poisonous anywhere in the plant, it stands as safe forage.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can work over the foliage without any danger of poisoning. The prickled stems are the single caution, so the thorns are all that really matters here.
Birds Safe
Birds adore the ripe berries and take no harm from feasting on them. They strip the deep red fruit from the canes and drop the seed far and wide as they move on.
People Safe
Fresh or cooked, the deep red berries are a genuine treat, and every part of the plant is safe for people. Only the thorns on standard forms fight back, so slip on gloves before you set to pruning.
Thorned forms bear sharp prickles that can scratch pets and handlers, while thornless cultivars exist; wear gloves when training or pruning canes.
Varieties
There are really only two loganberries worth telling apart, and what separates them is whether the canes bristle with prickles or run smooth. These are the two you are most likely to come across.
Thornless Loganberry (L654)
Run a hand along its canes and they come away smooth and spineless, which makes gathering fruit and tying in growth far gentler work than the thorned kind.
Loganberry LY59
Bristling with prickles, this is the old thorned workhorse, a heavy-yielding clone that has stocked commercial rows for decades.
Companions
The loganberry shares soil diseases with a few common crops, so the smarter move is knowing what to keep it away from rather than what to plant beside it.
Keep apart
Solanaceous crops (tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant): Share Verticillium wilt; avoid planting brambles where these crops recently grew
Wild brambles: Can harbor viruses and diseases that spread to cultivated canes
How to propagate
Making more loganberries is simple, and the plant handles most of it on its own the moment a long cane tip curves down and meets the soil.
LayeringEasy
Late summer to early fall · Roots in about 4 to 8 weeks; transplant the rooted tip the following spring
For trailing brambles, tip-layering is the go-to method, and it asks next to nothing of you. Come late summer or early fall, arch one long cane tip to the ground and tuck it under the soil, where it throws down roots within about 4 to 8 weeks. Let it settle where it is, then dig up the rooted tip and move it on the next spring.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Summer (softwood) or late winter (hardwood) · Several weeks to a few months to root and establish
Taking cuttings sees less use than tip-layering, but it is a reliable way to multiply the thornless clones. Snip softwood in summer or firmer hardwood in late winter, and allow them several weeks to a few months to strike roots and settle before you count them as established.
Myths
A loganberry is basically just a raspberry under another name.
In truth it springs from a blackberry crossed with a raspberry, and it belongs among the trailing blackberries far more than the raspberries. Just as a blackberry does, it keeps its core inside the picked berry, and that solid, plugged fruit is the surest way to tell the two apart.
All loganberry plants come armed with thorns.
Growers raise both thorned and thornless cultivars, so a coat of prickles is by no means guaranteed. Choose a spineless form and the picking and pruning get much easier, leaving smooth canes and none of the barbs to wrestle past.